DC über lawyer Steven Sunshine fought the law — and the law won.
Sunshine, the antitrust power at mega firm Skadden, Arps, is the mastermind behind Anheuser-Busch InBev’s acquisition of Grupo Modelo — a deal that ran into a Justice Dept. anti-trust lawsuit last month.
When the regulator sued, Anheuser-Busch’s legal eagles — including a team from Sullivan & Cromwell — promised to “vigorously” fight it.
Two weeks later, Sunshine is folding his cards.
Anheuser-Busch agreed yesterday to change the terms of its deal — and to sell to Constellation Brands full control over its Corona beer US business.
The concession basically gives new US antitrust chief William Baer everything Justice wanted.
Sunshine came to the Anheuser-Busch transaction fresh off a win in another high-stakes takeover.
The lawyer takes credit for being the person most responsible for convincing the DoJ last year to block AT&T’s acquisition of T-Mobile when representing Sprint.
This case is considered similar to T-Mobile since it focused on national pricing, and Sunshine likely pitched A-B that he was uniquely positioned to win by this time defending against the argument.
But now the tables have turned and his bravado might not have helped matters, sources said.
“Steve can be an aggressive personality,” a DC source said, “so I’m sure the regulators are happy to see him sweat.”
3G Capital Partners has used Kirkland & Ellis on most of its deals but turned to Skadden for help getting the Modelo deal past regulators.
Sunshine’s spokesman declined comment.